– "De werkzaamheden van de forensische experts werden verhuld voor het publiek door een afscheiding."("The
work done by the forensic experts was concealed from the audienc by a
fence." Contrary to what is practised in the popular tv series, Dutch
CSI experts usually put up a tent that covers the crime scene.)

– "Zolang ze maar niet de waarheid verhullen, vind ik het best!"("As long as they do not conceal the truth it’s fine with me!")

3 thoughts on “Verhullen”

I really love your words of the day. Thank you!
I have a small question. In this sentence: Met niets verhullende foto’s choqueerde de krant haar lezers.
You use “haar” to refer mean “its” (i.e., “van de krant”). Is this an exception to the general rule in Netherlands Dutch that “de” words are treated as “masculine” when calling them “it”? Or is this Belgian Dutch? I know that they still distinguish.
I think you probably understand what I’m talking about, but just in case, I’m referring to this difference:
Doe de deur dicht! Nee, ik wil dat ze open blijft (Belgium)
Doe de deur dicht! Nee, ik wil dat hij open blijft (Netherlands)
Of course, only answer if you have time. I understand that you have other things to do than answer my questions!

Hi Mixalis,
Common practice in the Netherlands is to treat “de” words as masculine, unless it is obviously feminine, e.g. “de vrouw”. However this is not a rule, and if you actually know that a noun has feminine gender you can use the possessive pronoun “haar”. Thing is that most Dutch people don’t know and therefore just say “zijn”.
The Flemish are better aware of the gender of words and therefore make the distinction when using possessive pronouns.
It’s good that you raise the point because when I wrote the example I actually had to look up the gender of “krant” in the dictionary. The “Van Dale” dictionary says that “krant” is ‘v(m)’. This means: feminine of origin but can be treated as masculine.
Note that “het” words always get the possessive pronoun “zijn” (unless obviously female, e.g. “het meisje”).
Groeten,
Sander